Views in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Northamptonshire; illustrative of the works of Robert Bloomfield ...

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VIEWS

IN

SUFFOLK, NORFOLK,

AND

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ;

ILLUSTRATIVE OF

Cfte WiotM

OF

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD;

ACCOMPANIED WITH

DESCRIPTIONS :

TO WHICH IS ANNEXED,

A MEMOIR OF THE POETS LIFE,

BY

E. W. BRAYLEY.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED BV VERNOR, HOOD, AND SHARPE, POULTRY t DARTON AND HARVEY,

GRACBCHURCH STREET ; AND J. STORER AND J. GRR1G, ENGRAVERS,

CHAPEL STREET, PENTONVULUB.

1818.

r. d *i$

Printed by W. CLOWES, Northnmberlaad-coart, Htrand.

^ .- J.U.^

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE very flattering reception which the Illustrations of
Cowper and Burns have experienced from the Public,
encourages a hope that the same liberal patronage will be
extended to the present undertaking ; and though we are
aware that it is a maxim generally received, that living
authors are of comparatively small consideration, we are
happy to know that the world have, in the instance of " The
Farmer's Boy," conferred on its author that generous coun-
tenance and support which perhaps equal merit has in former
times sighed for in vain.

To Capel Lofft, Esq., of Troston Hall, we are much
indebted for his useful communications. Mrs. Lathburt,
of Levermere Magna; the Rev. Robert Fellowes, of
Fakenham; and Mr. Robert Bloomfield; have equal
claims upon our gratitude.

J. STORER and J. GRE1G.

i^^^^f^^^— n^

0ittttoit

OF

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD

TO trace the progress of intellect through the suc-
cessive stages of its growth, from its early dawn to
the period of its full expansion, is an interesting
and useful labour; inasmuch, as the formation of
proper precepts for moral conduct, must always
depend on our acquaintance with the nature of the
mind, whether deriving strength from education, or
acquiring superiority from the independent exertion
of its own powers. The more humble the* state,
perhaps, from which any human being has emerged
to eminence through the vigour of his talents, the
higher must have been his merit; for the disad-
vantages of birth and fortune have a far greater
influence on the evolution of the mental faculties,*
than the moralist, who, with Pope, makes " Virtue
its own reward/' is at all times willing to acknow-

6 MEMOIR OF

ledge. Powerful, indeed, must be his genius, who can
dissever the brazen trammels that Poverty has forged
for her children, and ' outstepping' the control of
circumstance, make literature his passport to afflu-
ence and to fame.

Robert Bloomfield, the Farmer's Boy, was

born at the little village of Honington, in Suffolk,

on the 3d of December, 1766. He was the younger

son of George Bloomfield, a tailor ; and Elizabeth,

daughter of Robert Man by, who was the village

schoolmistress, and who instructed her own offspring

with those of her neighbours. His father died a

victim to the small-pox, when the subject of this

Memoir was less than a twelVemonth old, and his

mother was left a widow with six children.
»

It is observable that Bloomfield has incorporated
the most material events of his life with some one
or other of his poems, so that 'were all the passages
selected, and duly arranged, his history would want
but few additional particulars to be told in the
descriptive language of his own muse. Thus, in his
" Good Tidings" after alluding to the family distress
occasioned by the fell disease just mentioned, he

*^ "'■ .' ■ ■ ■ ' IP11 ■ w^w

e. --.:

ROBERT BLOOMF1ELD.

notices his parent's death, and the general horror
which the contagion inspired, in these words :

Heav'n restor'd them all,

And destin'd one of riper years to fall.

Midnight beheld the close of all his pain,

His grave was clos'd when midnight came again: *

No bell was heard to toll, no fun'ral pray'r,

No kindred bow'd, no wife, no children there :—

Its horrid nature could inspire a dread

That cut the bonds of custom like a thread.

The humble church-tow'r higher seem'd to show,

Illumin'd by the trembling light below ;

The solemn night-breeze struck each shivering cheek.

Religious reverence forbade to speak :

The starting sexton his short sorrow chid,

When the earth murmur'd on the coffin lid,

And falling bones and sighs of holy dread

Sounded a requiem to the silent dead. "

The lowly occupation of Mrs. Bloomfield, and the
number of her children, which was increased by the
issue of a second marriage, deprived her of the
means of giving her son Robert any regular school-
ing ; and nearly all the tuition that he ever received
out of her own cottage, was from Mr. Rodwell, of
Ixworth (now senior clerk to the magistrates of
Blackburn Hundred), to whom he went for about
two or three months to be improved in writing.

^*

8 MEMOIR OF

At the age of eleven he was taken into the house
of Mr. William Austin, his mother's brother-in-law*
a respectable farmer of Sapiston, a little village
adjoining to Honington, his mother still continuing
to find him " a few things to wear/' though even
this "was more than she well knew how to do/'
Mr. Austin, having himself a large family, could
pay but little attention to his young kinsman, more
than to providing him with food and employment :
in this respect, however, the treatment of his ser-
vants and of his sons was the same ; " all worked
hard, all lived well/'

'Twas thud with Giles ; meek, fatherless, and poor,

Labour his portion, but he felt no more ;

No stripes, no tyranny his steps pursu'd,

His life was constant, cheerful servitude :

Strange to the world he wore a bashful look,

The fields his % study, nature was his book :

A little farm his generous master till'd,

Who with peculiar grace his station iill'd ;

By deeds of hospitality endear d,

Serv'd from affection, for his worth rever'd ;

A happy offspring blest his plenteous board,

His fields were fruitful, and his barns well stor'd ;

And fourscore ewes he fed, a sturdy team,

And lowing kine that graz'd beside the stream :

Unceasing industry he kept in view,

And never lack'd a job for Giles to do.

Farmer's Boy.

-»». m ^«

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 9

In this humble station our Poet acquired that
intimate knowledge of rural occupations and man*
ners, the display of which forms the distinguishing
feature through all his writings. If the perceptive
faculties of his mind had not been improved by
education, they were at least unclouded by its
dogmas ; and the sensibility of his soul being awak-
ened by the charms of nature, gave fervour to his
thoughts, and he then attained that distinctness of
idea and individuality of conception, which became
the basis of his subsequent greatness.

Before the age of fifteen it was requisite to make
some change in the employment of young Bloom-
field, as Mr. Austin had informed his mother that
he was so small of his age, as to be very little
likely to be able to get his living by hard labour :
she wrote therefore to her two elder sons, George
and Nathaniel, who were then resident in London :
and the former, a ladies' shoemaker, offered to take
him and teach him his own business; whilst the
latter, a tailor, promised to find him in clothes. On
this offer his mother brought him to town, and
intrusted him to the care of his brother George,
charging him, as " he valued a mother's blessing, to
watch aver him, to set good examples for him, and
never to forget that he had lost his father/

10 MEMOIR OF

Mr. George Bloomfield then lived in an obscure
court, near Coleman-Street, and worked with four
others in a light garret, whither Robert was intro-
duced ; and whilst acquiring a knowledge of his
trade, became, as he has himself expressed it, though
on another occasion, " A Gibeonite 9 and sertfd
them all by turns/ 9 The most common of his
occupations was to read the Newspaper, his " time
being of less value" than that of his brother, or of
the other workmen; and because, when thus em-
ployed, he frequently met with words that he could
not understand, an old and tattered Dictionary was
bought for his use, by a constant reference to which
he soon attained a greater command of language,
and could readily comprehend the meaning of any
difficult passage that might occur. His knowledge
of phraseology and enunciation was also increased
by a regular attendance at the meeting-house in
the Old Jewry, on Sunday evenings, when the late
Rev. Mr. Fawcett was delivering his eloquent and
celebrated lectures.

The principal, and indeed only, books that at
this time were at his command, were a History
of England, a British Traveller, a Geography^
and the London Magazine. These were purchased
in numbers by his brother and fellow-workmen;

^^»^"^^ii«^"^ p i , ^^«iiW"»^^^""«"w»*^*«>WWTC» p ^"^^WBHBP^

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. n

but, with the exception of the Magazine, were read
by Bloomfield more as a task than as a pleasure :
yet even from these he attained some knowledge
both of Geography and History. The Poet's Corner
in the newspapers had the greatest share of his
attention, and here some of the first productions
of his muse were registered ; but they were not
written exactly at the early age which Mr. G;
Bloomfield, in his letter to Capel Lofft, has
assigned*. At the time they were published,
Robert was really in his twentieth year; yet pre-
viously to that, even as early as the age of fifteen,
he had made some attempts to array his ideas
in a poetical garb.

About this time a person, who was troubled
with fits, took lodgings in the same house with
the Bloomfields, and by his horrid screams, and
frightful gesticulations, so affected the sensibility
of Robert, that his brother was induced to remove
to a neighbouring court, through the fear of
consequences. In their new residence they became
acquainted with a man of singular character, a
native of Dundee, who had many books, and

* See- the eighth edition of The Farmer's Boy, where all the
pieces alluded to are re-printed.

12 MEMOIR OF

among them Paradise Lost and The Seasons: these
he lent to Robert, who was particularly delighted
with The Seasons, and studied it with peculiar
attention. The vivid imagery and glowing diction
of Thomson, were in strict accordance with his own
conceptions of the charms of nature ; but when at
a subsequent period he re-considered the descriptions
of the Scottish bard, he felt a firm conviction that
the subject had not been exhausted; and that " the
rural occupation and business of the fields, the
dairy, and the farm-yard/' would still afford a suf-
ficient range for an original and independent poem.

Soon afterwards a dispute between the masters
and the journeymen shoemakers, respecting the right
of giving employment to those who had not served
a regular apprenticeship, occasioned a temporary
suspension in the vocations of young Bloomfield;
and till the disputes were settled, his old master
and uncle, Mr. Austin, again invited him to his
house at Sapiston. The invitation was accepted ;
and in the very fields where his infant mind first
opened to the beauties of the country, and imbibed
its fondness for rural simplicity and rural innocence,
he experienced a renovation of his original feelings,
and 4 became fitted to be the writer of The Farmer's
Boy:

WPPWQSPR

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 13

The dispute in the trade continuing undecided,
he returned to London after an absence of two
months, and was regularly apprenticed to his
brother's landlord, in order to secure him at all
events from the effects of the litigation. It was
understood, however, that no advantage should be
taken of the indentures, and he continued to work
with his brother till he bad acquired a complete
knowledge of his business ; his leisure hours being
occasionally employed in learning to play on the
violin.

At this time his brother left London for Bury
St. Edmund's ; and about five years afterwards,
Robert, who had continued to follow his trade,
informed him by letter that " he had sold his fiddle
and got a wife/' Her name was Mary Anne,
daughter to Joseph Church, a boat-builder in the
dock-yard at Woolwich. The marriage was so-
lemnized on the 12th of December 1790.

The early years of this alliance were in some
respects imbittered by the cares of livelihood, and
the sickness of a young family, which interrupted
his literary amusements, and for a time made con-
siderable ravages on his health.

Soon came the days that tried a faithful wife.
The noise of children, and the cares of life.

14 MEMOIR OF

Then, 'midst the threat'nings of a wintry sky,

That cough which blights the bud of infancy,

The dread of parents, rest's inveterate foe,

Came like a plague, and turn'd my songs to woe.

The little sufferers triumph' d over pain.

Their mother smil'd, and bade me hope again.

Yet care gpin'd ground, exertion triumph'd less,

Thick fell the gathering terrors of distress ;

Anxiety, and griefs without a name,

Had made their dreadful inroads on my frame ;

The creeping dropsy, cold as cold could be,

Unnerv'd my arm. ■ ■

But Winter's clouds pursu'd their stormy way,

And March brought sunshine with the lengthening day ;

And bade my heart arise, that morn and night

Now throbb'd with irresistible delight.

' To my old Oak Table.*

On the recovery of his strength he resumed his
labours in the garret of the house where he* then
resided, in Bell Alley, Coleman-Street. Here,
amidst all the din and bustle made by six or seven
persons, pursuing the same trade as his own, did
Blopmfield compose The Farmer's Boy ; com-
mitting it to paper as he found opportunity, fifty*
6r a hundred lines at a time, and arranging them
as they were afterwards printed, in the exact order
in which they had been referred by imagination to
memory. The strength of the latter faculty was

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 15

indeed particularly exerted in the two last divisions
of his poem : the whole of his Winter and great

»

part of his Autumn having been entirely finished
before a single verse was written down.

When the manuscript was completed, it passed
through several hands before it was examined by
any person of sufficient judgment to appreciate its
value ; or, in other words, before it had the fortune
to be read by any one enough superior to prejudice,
to allow that a good poem could be composed by
an uneducated and unpresuming mechanic. At
length, in November 1798, it was referred to the
well-known Capel Lofft, Esq., of Troston Hall, near
Bury ; and under his patronage, and most warmly
supported by his influence, it was published in
March 1800. To the t?ste and superior sense of
this gentleman, therefore, are the public indebted
for all the pleasure they have derived from the
productions of a Bloomfield : and while the wreath
of immortality is decreed to the poet, the civic
crown shall encircle the brow of his protector and
his friend.

*

The publication of The Farmer's Boy proved
eminently successful, and a greater number perhaps
was sold in a less space of time, than had ever
occurred with any poem previously committed to

16* MEMOIR OF .

the press. It attracted the attention of the most

m

exalted personages in the kingdom ; and many of
the most eminent literary characters concurred in
bestowing the meed of approbation upon its author.
His domestic affairs were greatly improved by the
various presents which he received from those who
were emulous to reward the exertion of talents
under such untoward circumstances, and, conjoined
with the profits derived from the sale of the work,
enabled him to emerge from the obscurity of his
former situation, and to remove to a small house
near the Shepherd and Shepherdess, in the City
Road. One of the greatest pleasures, however,
resulting to Bloomfield from the printing of The
Farmers Boy, was the opportunity of transmitting
a copy to his mother; which he did immediately
after its publication.

In the year 1802 he published a second volume
of poems, under the title of Rural Tales : these
added considerably to his reputation : — his familiar
representations of nature giving a charm to his
poetry that renders it attractive to every class of
readers. A third volume, bearing the appellation
of Wild Flowers, has very recently been pub-
lished, and will be found to possess an equal degree
of merit with his former productions.

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 17

The family of Bloomfield consists of his wife,
three daughters, and a son : to the latter, who is
unfortunately afflicted with lameness, his father has
dedicated his Wild Flowers. His wife's father is
also resident in his house, and it will not be thought
undeserving of notice, by those for whom the " simple
annals of the poor" have interest, that the " Old
Oak Table* 9 upon whose " back" The Farmer's Boy
was written, was a gift from this relation towards
housekeeping ; and to use the words of Bloomfield
himself, composed of his

Worldly wealth, the parent stock*

From the little that can at present be ascertained
of the family of Bloomfield, it appears that the
great-grandfather of the Poet, both on the male
and on the female side, is the most distant ancestor
whose relationship can regularly be traced ; and it
is singular that both these relations were tailors,
and that they were both placed out to that trade
by ladies, whose names are now unknown. Isaac
Bloomfield, his great-grandfather by the male line,
was apprenticed at Framlingham, in Suffolk ; but
in the latter part of his life he was Churchwarden
during twenty-seven years, of the parish of Ousden,
in the same county. He lived to the age of eighty-

lg MEMOIR OF

eight, and had seventeen children alive at one time,
of whom James, the youngest, and by a second
marriage, was father to Mr. Charles Blomfield, who
keeps a very respectable .school at Bury St. Edmunds,
and is at this time a capital Burgess of that town.
The difference in the orthography of the names by
the omission of an 0, is known to have been occa-

r

sioned by a quarrel between old Isaac Bloomfield,
and a brother of his, who afterwards settled in the
neighbourhood of Colchester, where many of his
descendants are now living. This Isaac Bloomfield
was accustomed to tell a story of his childhood,
which has been regularly transmitted to his great-
grandson Robert, and is to this effect ; that, " he
remembered being at a house .at Framlingham,
surrounded by a moat, arid that a party of horse
soldiers were lodged there who were in the interest
of Charles the First, but that the partisans of
Cromwell overpowering them, the people of the
house fled, and in the eonfusion the maid gave
him a handful of silver spoons, and told him to
throw them into the moat to prevent them falling
into the hands of the enemy : he did so, and then
ran away himself:" and this he would observe, on
concluding his tale, " was the dvwnfal of our family"
What his particular meaning was by this dark ex*

ROBERT BLOOMF1ELD. 19

pression cannot now be told ; but it is a very curious
and remarkable circumstance, that an event which
occurred in America about two years ago, appears
to bear a strong reference to the above narrative.
Elizabeth Bloomfield, an elder sister to Robert, is
now resident in George Town, Potomac; and in
a letter which she sent to her brother, of the date
of February 1 1, 1805, is the following passage :

" Your Poems, &c, make a great bustle here ;
they are printing again at New York, Baltimore,
and Philadelphia; and before I left Philadelphia
the Governor of the State of Jersey sent for me.
He is an original in his manner ; his name is Bloom-
field ; and every one of that name he meets with
he sends for, and examines his genealogy to find
if they spring from the same branch. I assure you
I have not been so catechized since I was a baby :
he seemed to wish to find himself allied to the Poet,
as he was pleased to call you. He is an old man ;
he tells me his great-great-grandfather fled from
England in the time of the revolution in England,
in the time of Oliver Cromwell. He has a town in
the Jerseys called Bhomfield, the inhabitants chiefly
composed of that name, which he has hunted out : —
he finished by telling me, if ever I wanted assistance,

b2

20 MEMOIR OF

to apply to him, as he made it an invariable rule to
help his country people all he could, and particularly
those of his own name."

Though this information is defective in not speci-
fying from what part of England the Governor of
Jersey deduced his own origin, yet it may be pre-
sumed, with great appearance of probability, that
it must have been from the eastern coast, as the
Bloomfields (with some variation in spelling perhaps)
are far more abundant in Suffolk than in any other
part of the island ; and if so, that his ancestors were
the same as those of the Poet. Among others of
the name of Bloomfield, and Blomefield, noticed
in Loder's History of Tramlingham, John Sutton
is mentioned as holding a cottage which was Thomas
Buckes' in 1676, and John Blumfi eld's in 1659.

To those who are anywise interested in tracing
the rise, the decay, and the connexions of families,
a few more words on this subject will not be tedious.
— Warton, in his History of English Poetry, vol. iii.

*

p. 84, has these words : " William Blomefield, other-
wise Battlesden, born at Bury, in Suffolk, bachelor
in physic, and a monk of Bury Abbey, was an
adventurer in quest of the philosopher's stone. While
a monk at Bury, as I presume, he wrote a metrical

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 21

tract, entitled ' Bloom (fields Blossoms, or the c Campe
of Philosophy.' — Afterwards turning Protestant, he
-did not renounce his cherfnstry with his religion;
for he appears to have dedicated to Queen Eliza-
beth another system of occult sciences, entitled
€ The Rule of Life, or the Fifth Essence/ ' — Ritson,
in his Bibliographia Poetica, styles him &V* William
-Bloomfield, and says, he wrote " The Compendiary
of the Noble Science of ABcemy:" and Bishop Tan-
ner, in his BibHotheca, informs us, that after his
recantation from Popery, he was made ' Vicar of
* St. Simon and St. Jude, in Norwich, whence he
1 was afterwards ejected by the Papists/

Now, from the birthplace of this Bloomfield being
at Bury, it is not improbable but that if the descent
could be distinctly traced, he would be found named
in the pedigree of the Poet ; and it is possible also*
that Blomefield, the Historian of Norfolk, might be
descended from a branch of the same stock. —
Whether, however, these things are so or not, the
author of The Farmer's Boy requires no adventitious
lustre to be reflected upon his name from a con-
nexion with literary ancestors. Modest and unas-

* This title, it should be observed, was given to priests in the
Catholic times, as may be evinced by many, ancient sepulchral in-
scriptions.

82 MEMOIR OF BLOOMFIELD.

suming in his manners, retired in deportment, warnl

in his friendship, and humble in his piety, he is

convinced that individual worth must arise from

individual merit : and that the inquiry, c To whom

related, or by whom begot/ is only of use when

it tends to improve the conduct, and to instruct
the heart,

E. W. B.

March 15, 1806.

AN ILLUSTRATION

OF

THE WORKS

OF

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD.

EUSTON HALL.

Euston Hall, in Suffolk, the seat of his Grace
the Duke of Grafton, was formerly the property
of the Earls of Arlington, but came into the pos-
session of the Fitzroys by the marriage of the first
Duke of Grafton with the daughter and heiress of
Lord Arlington, The mansion is large and com-
modious, of a modern date, built with red brick,
and without any superfluous decorations within or
without : indeed, the good sense and good taste of
its noble possessor, are conspicuous in every part.
The house is almost surrounded by trees of uncom-
mon growth, and the most healthy and luxuriant
appearance ; and near it glides the river Ouse. Over
this stream is thrown a neat and substantial wooden

24 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa.

bridge, at the foot of which the accompanying View-
was taken. The scenery about the House and Park
combines the most delightful assemblage of rural
objects that can well be imagined, and is justly
celebrated by the author of The Farmer's Boy :

Where noble Grafton spreads his rich domains
Round Euston's water'd vale and sloping plains,
Where woods and groves in solemn grandeur rise,
Where the kite brooding unmolested flies ;
The woodcock and the painted pheasant race,
And skulking foxes destin'd for the chase.

The estate of Euston is of considerable extent;
its circumference is between thirty and forty miles :
it includes a great number of villages and hamlets,
Over which the Duke presides with an attention
nearly approaching to parental care.

Fakenham Wood, near Euston Hall, was the fte*
quent resort of Mr. Austin and his family, at the
time that Bloomfield was with him, on a Sunday
afternoon, in the summer months. Here the farmer
was wont to indulge his juniors with a stroll, to
recreate them after the labours of the week ; and this
was the Poet's favourite haunt in his boyish days,
whenever his numerous occupations left him suffi-
cient leisure to muse on the beauties of nature.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa. 25

On an elevated situation in Euston Park stands
the Temple. This elegant structure was designed
for a banqueting-house, and was built by the ce-
lebrated Kent under the auspices of the* present
Duke, who laid the first stone himself in the year
1746. It consists of an upper and lower apartment,
and is in the Grecian style of architecture. It forms
a pleasing object from many points of view in the
neighbourhood of Euston, and commanding, a wide
range of prospect,

points the way,

O'er slopes and lawns, the park's extensive pride I

Baenham Water is a small rivulet which crosses
the road from Euston to Thetford : it is in the midst
of a " bleak, unwooded scene/' and justifies the

Poet's lamentation in its full extent ; for, after noticing

«

the resting-place afforded by its shelving brink, and
observing how the coolness of the current refreshed
his weary feet on a sultry afternoon, he adds,

But every charm was incomplete,
For Barnham Water wants a shade.

In this neighbourhood are several Tumuli of

26 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, $r,

various size: these, when considered in connexion
with the purposes for which they were raised, become
highly interesting. They have relation to the history
of Thetford ; and as this is glanced at in the poem
on Barnham Water, we 6hall mention very briefly
a few relative, and to our purpose requisite, circum-
stances.

Thetford is a town of great antiquity, but
has undergone considerable alterations at different
periods, and at this time exhibits but little of its
former greatness. It is supposed to have been of
importance before the Roman invasion, and at that
era it was probably situated entirely on the Suffolk
side of the river Ouse, though it is now principally
in Norfolk. The Romans strengthened and fortified
this place for their own security : from them it
passed to the Saxons, and afterwards to the Danes,
who, in the year 871, under Inguar their leader,
defeated and put to death Edmund, the last of the
East-Anglian kings : they also destroyed the town,
and massacred its inhabitants. The bodies of those
who were slain ia this dreadful and decisive conflict,
were interred under the tumuli already mentioned.
Castle Hill, and its appurtenances, which Bloomfield
calls the Danish Mowids, were raised by the Danes

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, *e. 37

previously to the battle, as an annoyance to the
town. Here was a camp of extraordinary strength,
with this prodigious mount in the middle: on its
summit is a deep cavity, in which a number of
men may stand entirely concealed. Castle Hill
is judged to be the largest of an artificial kind in
this kingdom, and is surrounded by three ramparts,
which were formerly divided by ditches : the ram-
parts are still in good preservation. When beheld
from the summit of this hill, the adjacent country
presents a cheerless prospect ; and the only recom-
pense obtained by climbing such a steep, is the
bird's-eye view it affords of the town, which being
close to its base, has a singular and pleasing ap-
pearance, displaying a charming variety of domestic
scenery. Thetford, in its prosperous state, could
boast of no fewer than eight Monasteries, many
remains of which are yet visible, particularly of
one founded by Roger Bigod. The gateway of
this abbey still exists, together with lofty portions
of its walls and great part of its foundations. The
gateway is tolerably perfect, and exhibits a fine
specimen of the architecture of its time. Some
slender and elegant columns are still adhering to
the standing walls, which are composed principally

c*a

28 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa.

of flint : the foundations evince the monastery to have
been of considerable extent.

On the Suffolk side of the Ouse is the ruin of
another monastery, called The Place : this was
founded by Uvius, first abbot of Bury, in the time
of King Xanute, in "memory of the English and
Danes that were slain in the great battle, in which
Edmund the Saxon was defeated : it was originally
a house of regular canons, but was afterwards
rebuilt by Hugh, abbot of Bury, and inhabited by
nuns. Great part of this structure still remains,
and is at present in a more perfect state than any
other of the monasteries at Thetford; but being
now appropriated to the housing of corn, and other
purposes/ it is suffering continual mutilations, and
perhaps the date of its entire destruction is not
very remote.

Thetford, as we have already intimated, has
been the scene of many remarkable transactions,
the seat of much contention and bloodshed ; for
an account of which the curious are referred to
Blomefkld's History of No?folk. The adjacent
country affords no materials for description ; and it
was rather unfortunate that the poet's observations, as
detailed in his " Barnliam Water ," should have

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, $e.

29

been made in a situation > where the beauties of
nature are not predominant, a circumstance of which
he seems perfectly aware :

Whatever hurts my Country's fame,
When wits and mountaineers deride,

To me grows serious, for I name
My native plains and streams with pride.

•.

30 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, *c.

SAPISTON.

This pleasant village is worthy of notice from being
the place where Bloomfield commenced his humble
career as the ' Farmer's Boy ; a situation which in-
troduced him to the knowledge of those rural em-
ployments and occupations which he has delineated
with so much felicity and correctness.

Here his first thoughts to Nature's charms inclined,
Which stamps devotion on th' inquiring mind.

It affords an instructive lesson, and is an agree-
able retrospect, to trace the Poet from his present
circumstances, as an author high in the public esti-
mation, to the early years of his life, when he was
employed in the field, which forms the foreground
of the annexed Print, to scare birds from the corn ;
and where frequently, basking in the sun at the
foot of that aged, and now almost sapless, elm, by
the focus of a glass he consumed his paper, and his
time, unconscious of the purposes to which they
were destined by futurity. The scenery round the
farm has been greatly injured within the last twenty-
five or thirty years, by felling most of the timber:

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, *c. 31

Even at the time that Bloomfield resided here, ash
and elm were much more abundant than now : the
tall trees near the house are the remaining elms
under which the cows were collected for the purpose
of milking.

Forth comes the maid, and like the morning smiles ;
The mistress too, and followed close by Giles.
A friendly tripod forms their humble seat.
With pails bright scourM and delicately sweet.
Where shadowing elms obstruct die morning ray,
Begins their work, begins the simple lay : —
The full-charged udder yields its willing streams,
While Mary sings some lover's amorous dreams ;
And crouching Giles beneath a neighbouring tree,
Tugs o'er his pail, and chants with equal glee.

The window seen at the gable end of the house
admitted light into the usual dormitory of the Poet,
where he (with the juniors of the family) was wont
to find his way to bed at all seasons of the year without
a candle. At a short distance from the farm-house
stands Sapiston Church :

Hither, at times, with cheerfulness of soul,

Sweet village maids from neighbouring hamlets strolL

The pride of such a party, Nature's pride
Was lovely Poll.—

32 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa.

This was Mary Rainer, the distracted girl of
Ixworth Thorpe, a small village near Sapiston ; a
character drawn by Bloomfield in the most exqui-
site and pathetic language : she still resides at Ixworth
Thorpe, but is now in a state of perfect sanity : the
Poet acknowledges that he proved an indifferent
prophet, when he asserted —

Ill-fated maid ! thy guiding spark is fled,
And lasting wretchedness awaits thy bed.

For in life's road, though thorns abundant grow,
There still are joys poor Poll can never know.

Sapiston Church, like many others in Suffolk, is
covered with thatch ; from which circumstance it has
many times been nearly unroofed by the pilfering
of the jackdaws. In the churchyard lie buried
Mr. Austin, the venerable master of Giles, Mrs.
Austin, and nine of their infant children.

^»w

• ■ » w

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, 4c.

33

HONING TON

Will in future be celebrated as the birthplace of

the most simple and captivating of our pastoral poets.

The Cottage, which is on the right of the church,
as seen in the Print, was purchased as a barn by

the grandfather of the Poet, and has since been
gradually improving to its present neat an4 com-
fortable appearance. It was formerly covered with
thatch ; but a new roof being necessary at a time
when straw could scarcely be procured, the Poet,
to whom it has since devolved, covered it with tiles,
though with great reluctance, as he lamented the
loss of its original simplicity. During the harvest
of 1782 or 1783, the village of Honington suffered
severely by fire. Four or five double tenemented
cottages, the parsonage-house and out-houses, a
farm-house and all its appurtenances, were levelled
in little more than half an hour. This cottage was
immediately in the line of the flames, and was saved
almost miraculously by the exertions of the neigh-
bours, assisted by Mr. Austin of Sapiston, and his
men : it was on fire several times. The Poet's mo-
ther then kept a school at the cottage, and retreated
from the distressing scene into the fields with a clock,

c

34 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa

and the title-deeds of the house in her lap, sur-
rounded by a group of infant scholars, in full per-
suasion that her habitation was feeding the flames ;
but, contrary to her expectation, under its friendly
foof, where she had long resided, she finished her
career of mortality, and was buried close to the
west end of the church, near her first husband, who
died of the small-pox*. A stone has been erected
to her memory by the Duke of Grafton, on which
is the following inscription, written by the Rev.
R. Fellowes :

Beneath this stone are deposited the mortal remains of Eliza*
beth Glover, who died December 1804. Her maiden
name was Manby, and she was twice married : by her first
husband, who lies buried near this spot, she was the mother
of six children, the youngest of whom was Robert Bloom-
field, the Pastoral Poet. In her household affairs she was
a pattern of industry, cleanliness, and every domestic virtue.
By her kind, her meek, and inoffensive behaviour, she had
conciliated the sincere good-will of all her neighbours and
acquaintance. Nor amid the busy cares of time was she

* Bloomfield has some exquisite lines on the death and burial
of his father, in his " Good Tidings, or News from the Farm, ,,
written in favour of vaccine inoculation. Dr. Jenner was so well
pleased with this poem, that, highly to his honour, he presented its
author with a durable and gratifying memorial of his esteem.

DECRYPTION OF THE SCENERY, *c. .35

ever forgetful of eternity. But her religion was no hypo-
critical service, no vain , form of words ! ! ! — It consisted in
loving God and keeping his commandments, as they have
been made known to us by Jesus Christ*

READER !
Go thou and do likewise.

a

Bloom field has favoured us with permission to
copy the annexed portrait of his mother from a
picture in his possession, and has himself subjoined
the following account of the last stage of her life, '
together with his first essay in Blank verse, which
he has addressed to the Spindle that she left half
filled.

* The portrait of my mother was taken on her
last visit to London, in the summer of 1804, and
about six months previous to her dissolution. During
the period of evident decline in her strength and
faculties, she conceived, in place of that patient
resignation which she had before felt, an ungoyern-
able dread of ultimate want, and observed to a
relative with peculiar emphasis, that ' to meet
* Winter, Old Age, and Poverty, was like
' meeting three great giants/

c 2

36 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, tfc.

" To the last hour of her life she was an excel-
lent spinner ; and latterly, the peculiar kind of wool
which she spun was brought exclusively for her, as
being the only one in the village who exercised
their industry on so fine a sort. During the tearful
paroxysms of her last depression she spun with the
utmost violence, and with vehemence exclaimed —
* I must spin V A paralytic affection struck her
whole right side while at work, and obliged her to
quit her spindle when only half filled, and she died
within a fortnight afterwards! I have that spindle
now. She was buried on the last day of the year
1804. She returned from her visit to London on
Friday the 29th of June, just, to a day, twenty-
three years after she brought me to London, which
was also on a Friday, in the year 1781.

TO A SPINDLE.

Relic ! I will not bow to thee, nor worship !
Yet, treasure as thou art, remembrancer
Of sunny days, that ever haunt my dreams,
When thy brown felloes as a task I twirl'd,
And sung my ditties, ere the Farm receiv'd
My vagrant foot, and with its liberty
And all its cheerful buds and opening flow'rs
Had taught my heart to wander. —

Relic of affection, come ;
Thou shalt a moral teach to me and mine.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, tfe. 37

The hand that wore thee smooth is cold, and spins
No more. Debility pressed hard around
The seat of life, and terrors fill'd her brain ;
Nor causeless terrors : Giants grim and bold,
Three mighty ones she fear'd to meet ; they came—
Winter, Old Age, and Poverty, all came :
The last had dropp'd his club, yet fancy made
Him formidable ; and when Death beheld
Her tribulation, he fulfill' d his task,
And to her trembling hand and heart, at once,
Cried, ' Spin no moref Thou then wert left half fill'd
With this soft downy fleece, such as she wound
Through all her days ! She who could spin so well!
Half fill'd wert thou, half finished when she died.
Half finished ! 'tis the motto of the world !
We spin vain threads, and dream, and strive, and die,
With sillier things than Spindles in our hands.

Then feeling, as I do, resistlessly,
The bias set upon my soul for verse,
Oh ! should Old Age still find my brain at work,
And Death, o'er some poor fragment striding, cry,
" Hold ! spin no more ;" grant Heav'n, that purity
Of thought and texture may assimilate
That fragment unto thee, in usefulness,
In strength, and snowy innocence. Then shall
The village school-mistress shine brighter through
The exit of her boy ; and both shall live,
And virtue triumph too, and virtue's tears,
Like Heav'n's pure blessings, fall upon her grave.

38 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, $«r.

FAKENHAM,

t

A small village contiguous to Sap is ton, is situated
in a pleasant valley, which is watered and fertilized
by a branch of the river Outfe. The meadows
afford abundant pasture, and the neighbouring up-
lands are richly cultivated. The whole parish is
the property of his Grace the Duke of Grafton,
and lying within a mile or two of Euslon Hall,
experiences much of his attention. The Duke is
perfectly easy of access, and lends a ready ear,
and a benevolent hand, to the complaints and ne-
cessities of every suitor.

In this village, nearly opposite to the church,
is a cottage, in which was born the Poet's mother :
a sycamore tree stands near the door: this was
planted by her father, who, together with his wife,
lies interred in front of the church. In the annexed
view of Fakenham from the Valley, is seen
the foot bridge adverted to in the tale of The
Broken Crutch; and near the spot from which the
view was taken is a moated eminence, formerly
the site of a mansion supposed to have been de-
stroyed by fire.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, *c. 39

«

The moat remains, the dwelling itf no more !

Its name denotes its melancholy fall,

For village children call the spot Burnt Hall.

Several decayed trees are still existing near the
inner margin of the moat ; the remains of a circle
of elms that, according to the Poet, once com-
pletely surrounded the mansion. This he describes
as the residence of one of the characters intro-
duced into the tale before mentioned, and hasr
probably taken up his ideas of the ancient hos-
pitality of the place from some tradition still extant
in the neighbourhood :

his kitchen smoke,

That from the tow'ring rookery upward broke,
Of joyful import to the poor hard by,
Streamed a glad sign of hospitality.

The view of Fakenham from Eustok Park
was taken near " the darksome copse that whis-
pered on the hill/ 1 and presents the " White Park
Gate" through which the terror-struck villager fled
when pursued by the long-eared apparition.

Loud fell the gate against the post,

Her heart-strings like to crack,
For much she fear'd the grisly ghost

Would leap upon her back.

j - - ■ • - — - — — — ■ r

40 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, $c.

The house, seen on the right in the distance, is
the Parsonage, inhabited by the Rev. R. Fellowes,
curate of this parish, a gentleman of great literary
reputation, of benevolent manners, and much es-
teemed by his parishioners.

mmsBam

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, *c. 41

TROSTON HALL.

This seat is the neat retirement of Capel Lofft,
Esq., to whom the Public are in a great measure
indebted for their knowledge of the Farmer's
Boy. The proprietor has been at considerable
pains to make every appendage consistent with
his own peculiar taste ; to this end he has inscribed

■

almost every tree in his garden and its vicinity
to names of classic celebrity, such as Homer, De-
mosthenes, Cicero, Milton, Cowley, and many

*

others : the large elm in the foreground of the
View is called the Evelyn Elm, in memory of the
antiquary and planter of that name. And to
commemorate a visit to Troston Hall by the cele-
brated philanthropist Howard, in the year 1786,
a Laurel was planted which now bears his name.
Two horsechesnut trees and two oaks were planted
here by R. Bloomfield in January 1805, which
are carefully reared.

This estate was purchased by Robert Maddockes,
Esq., in the year 1680, from whose family it came
to its present possessor, by whom a very remarkable
anecdote is related of the father of this Robert
Maddockes, which exhibits a singular instance of
the fluctuations of family greatness. He is said

42 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa

t

to have descended from the Maddockes of Wales,
who formerly held the sovereignty of that prin-
cipality ; but the same combination of events which
deprived them of a crown, reduced him below the
rank of mediocrity; for this man, who could
boast of a regal ancestry, was actually reduced
to traverse the extent of country from Wales to
London on foot in search of employment, at the
age of thirteen, friendless and alone; and having
heard that Cheapside was the most likely place
to obtain what he wanted, on his arrival in town
he repaired thither. After waiting Some time, he
observed a merchant soil his shoe in crossing the
street. Full of ardour for any circumstance that
might give rise to employment, he availed himself
of this, and immediately ran and cleaned the
shoe. The merchant, struck with jhe boy's hu-
miliating attention, inquired into his situation, and
hearing his history, took him into his service :
when some time had elapsed he employed him in
his counting-house; and he afterwards became a
partner in the firm, and acquired a considerable
fortune.

Mr. Lofft is known in the literary world by
various publications of a professional kind as a
barrister ; and several poetical pieces and essays
of a political nature.

!^»

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, %c. 43

WHITTLEBURY FOREST,

In Northamptonshire, was a grant from the crown
in the year 1685, to the Duke of Grafton, who
was made hereditary keeper. The forest is well
stocked with timber, and presents a beautiful variety
of groves, lawns, and upland swells, enlivened by
numerous herds of deer and flocks of sheep. There
are several lodges on the Forest ; the principal of
them is Wakefield Lodge, which is frequently the
residence of the Duke , and his family. It was built
by Mr. Claypole, son-in-law to the Protector Crom-
well ; but many alterations and additions have been
made at subsequent periods. The edifice in its
present state has a handsome portico in front, sup-
ported on four columns of the Tuscan order, and
leads to a grand saloon, which occupies nearly
the whole area of the building. The grounds about
the house are admirably adapted to answer the
purposes of utility and pleasure. The gardens are
extensive and in excellent order. There is an un-
commonly fine grove called the Pheasantry, through
which is a winding path of a mile and a half in
circuit, affording a most agreeable walk from the

44 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, t;c.

house, as it terminates at a short distance from its
beginning.

The View is taken from a rising ground nearly
two miles from the Lodge, in the front 1 of which
is seen a piece of water containing eighteen acres :
in the distance on the left is Bow-Brick Hill, in
Buckinghamshire. Near the back of the house
two or three noble glades concentrate, which branch
out in different directions,, through the extent of
the forest. Bloomfield, who spent some time at
the Lodge in August 1800, expresses the particular
delight he found in taking a prospect of the country
at the extremity of this wood :

Genius of the forest shades,

Sweet from the heights of thy domain.
When the grey evening shadow fades,

To view the country's golden grain ;
To view the gleaming village spire,

'Midst distant groves unknown to me,
Groves that, grown bright in borrowed fire,

Bow o'er the peopled vales to thee !

This address to the * Genius of the Forest Shades/
was made near the foot of Wake's Oak. The
* village spire/ is the spire of Hanslop Church, in
Northamptonshire, and has since been destroyed

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, *c.

45

by lightning; the tower only remains. Wake's
Oak is reckoned about eight yards in circumference :
its age cannot be ascertained, and the origin of its
name is equally obscure.

46 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fc.

SHOOTERS HILL,

Probably so called from the archers frequently
exercising themselves here in shooting with the
bow*, is eight miles from London on the high
road to Dover. It was in former times a place
of much danger and dread to travellers from the
narrowness of the road over it, and the many
lurking-places afforded to thieves by the woods
and coppices with which the hill was covered :
many robberies were committed here even at noon-
day. In the year 1737 a new road was laid out
much wider than the old one ; the greater part
of the wood has also been cleared off, and the
above disorders have since been in a considerable
degree prevented.

* It is said that King Henry the Eighth and his queen Catharine
came to this place from Greenwich on a May-day, and were re-
ceived by a body of 200 archers in green habits, headed by a captain
who personated Robin Hood; and that after the bowmen had ex-
hibited their dexterity before the king, his majesty and his train
were conducted into the wood, and entertained in green arbours
and booths with venison and wine, and all the parade of gallantry
so peculiar to the age.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, $c. 47

The summit of Shooter's Hill commands a most
extensive and variegated prospect, overlooking as
large a city and as fine a country as any in the
universe. This place was visited by Bloomfield
solely for the recovery of his health.

To bide me from the public eye,

To keep the throne of reason clear,
Amidst fresh air to breathe or die,

I took my staff and wander'd here.
Suppressing every sigh that heaves,
And coveting no wealth but thee,
I nestle in the honeyed leaves,
And hug my stolen Liberty.

The triangular Tower on the brow of the hill
is an elegant erection surrounded by a neat plan-
tation, on a sloping lawn, intersected by gravelled
walks. It is an object of considerable interest,
as it commemorates a train of exploits of the
highest moment to our mercantile transactions with
the eastern world. Over the entrance, on a broad
tablet qf stone, is this inscription :

This Building was erected m.dcc.lxxxiv. by the Representative of the late

Sir WILLIAM JAMES, Bart.,

To commemorate that gallant O fficer's Achievements in the EastIndibs,

During his Command of the Company's Marine Forces in those Seas ;

And in a particular Manner to record the Conquest of

The Castlb of Severndroog,obl the Coast of Malabar,

Which fell to his superior Valour and able Conduct,

On the 2d Day of April m. dcc.lv.

48 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, *c.

We have subjoined from Orme's History of Hin-
dostan a more explicit account of the conquests
here recorded, which must necessarily be introduced
by some prefatory matter.

*

" The Malabar coast, from Cape Comorin to
Surat, is intersected by a great number of rivers,
which disembogue into the sea: it appears that
from the earliest antiquity the inhabitants have
had a strong propensity to piracy ; and at this
day, all the different principalities on the coast
employ vessels to cruise upon those of all other
nations which they can overpower. The Mogul
empire, when it first extended its dominion to the
sea in the northern parts of this coast, appointed
an admiral called the Sidee, with a fleet to protect
the vessels of their Mahometan subjects trading
to the gulfs of Arabia and Persia, from the Malabar
pirates, as well as from the Portuguese. The
Morattoes were at that time in possession of several
forts between Goa and Bombay, and finding them-
selves interrupted in their piracies by the Mogul's
admiral, they made war against him by sea and
land. In this war one Conagee Angria raised
himself from a private man to be commander-in-
chief of the Morattoe fleet, and was intrusted
with the government of Severndroog, one of their

d

ir

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, *c. 49

strongest forts, built upon a small rocky island
which lies about eight miles to the north of Dabul,
and within cannon-shot of the continent : here
Conagee revolted against the Saha Rajah, or king
of the Morattoes, and having sediiced part of the
fleet to follow his fortune, he with them took and
destroyed the rest. The Saha Rajah endeavoured
to reduce, him to obedience by building three
forts upon the main land, within point-blank shot
of Severndroog ; but Conagee took these forts
likewise, and in a few years got possession of all
the sea-coast, from Tamanah to Bancoote, extend-
ing 120 miles, together with the inland country
as far back as the mountains, which in some places
are thirty, in others twenty miles from the sea.
His successors, who have all borne the name of
Angria, strengthened themselves continually, inso-
much that the Morattoes having no hopes of re-
ducing them, agreed to a peace, on condition that
Angria should acknowledge the sovereignty of the
Saha Rajah, by paying him a small annual tribute.
" In the mean-time the piracies which Angria
exercised, upon ships of all nations indifferently,
who did not purchase his passes, rendered him
every day more and more powerful. There was
not a* creek, bay, harbour, or mouth of a river

D

50 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa.

along the coast of his dominions, in which he
had not erected fortifications and marine recep-
tacles, to serve both as a station of discovery, and
as a place of refuge to his vessels; hence it was
as difficult to avoid the encounter of them, as to
take them.

" Eight or ten grabs, vessels from 150 to 300
tons burthen, and forty or fifty gallivats, or large
row-boats, crowded with men, generally composed
Angria's principal fleet destined to attack ships
of force or burden. The vessel no sooner came
in sight of the port or bay where the fleet was
lying, than they slipped their cables and put out
to sea : if the wind blew, their construction enabled
them to sail almost as fast as the wind ; and if
it was calm, the gallivats rowing towed the grabs :
when within cannon-shot of the chase they gene-
rally assembled in her stern, and the grabs attacked
her at a distance with her prow guns, firing first
only at their masts, and taking aim when the
three masts, of the vessel just opened all together,
to their view : by which means the shot would
probably strike one or other of the three. . As
soon as the chase was dismasted, they came nearer ;
and battered h$r on all sides until . she . struck ;
and if the defence was obstinate, they sent a number

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa. 51

of gallivats with two or three hundred men in each,
who boarded sword in hand from all quarters in
the same instant.

" It was now fifty years that this piratical State
had rendered itself formidable to the trading ships
of all the European nations in India, and the English
East India Company had kept up a marine force,
at the annual expense of £50,000, to protect their
own ships, as well as those belonging to the mer-
chants established in their colonies. Several attempts
were made by different nations to destroy this pira-
tical system ; but all proving unsuccessful, the pirate,
elated with the idea that his forts were impregnable,
threw off his allegiance to the Morattoes : it is said
that he cut off the noses of their ambassadors who
came to demand the tribute he had agreed to pay
to the Saha Rajah. The Morattoes, who were in
possession of the main land opposite to Bombay,
had several times made proposals to the English
Government in the island to attack this common
enemy with their united forces. Accordingly Com-
modore James, the Commander-in-chief of the Com-
pany's marine force in India, sailed on the 22d of
March, 1756, in the Protector of forty-four guns,
with a ketch of sixteen guns, and two bomb- vessels ;
but such was the exaggerated opinion of Angvia's

' ■ " » n mT

52 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, Sfe.

strong holds, that the Presidency instructed him not
to expose the Company's vessels to any risk by
attacking them, but only to blockade the harbours
whilst the Morattde army carried on their operations
by land. Three days after the Morattoe fleet, con-
sisting of seven grabs and sixty gallivats, came out
of Choul, having on board 10,000 land forces, and
the fleets united proceeded to Comara Bay, where
they anchored, in order to permit the Morattoe? to
get their meal on shore, since they are prohibited
by their religion from eating or washing at sea.
Departing from hence they anchored again about
fifteen miles to the north of Severndroog, when
Rama-gee Punt with the troops disembarked, in
order to proceed the rest of the way by land.
Commodore James now receiving intelligence that
the enemy's fleet lay at anchor in the harbour of
Severndroog, represented to the Admiral of the Mo-
rattoe fleet, that by proceeding immediately thither
they might come upon them in the night, and so
effectually blockade them in the harbour, that few
or none would be able to escape. The Morattoe
seemed highly to approve the proposal, but had not
authority enough over his officers to make any of
them stir before the morning ; when the enemy, dis-
covering them under sail, immediately slipped their

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, *e. 53

cables and put to sea. The Commodore then
flung out the signal for a general chase; but as
little regard was paid to this as to his former in-
tention ; for although the vessels of the Morattoes
had hitherto sailed better than the English, such
was their terror of Angria's fleet, that they all kept
behind, and suffered the Protector to proceed alone
almost out of their sight. The enemy, on the other
hand, exerted themselves with uncommon industry,
flinging overboard all their lumber to lighten their
vessels; not only crowding all the sails they could
bend, but also hanging up their garments, and
even their turbans, to catch every breath of air.
The Protector, however, came within gun-shot of
some of the sternmost ; but the evening approaching,
Commodore James gave over the chase, and re-
turned to Severndroog, which he had passed several
miles. Here he found Rama-gee Punt with the
army besieging, as they said, the three forts on
the main land ; but they were firing only from
one gun, a four-pounder, at the distance of two
miles, and even at this distance the troops did
not think themselves safe without digging pits, in
which they sheltered themselves covered up to the-
chin from the enemy's fire. The Commodore judging
from these operations, that they would never 'take

*

54 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa

the forts, determined to exceed the instructions
which he had received from the Presidency, rather
than expose the English arms to the disgrace they
would suffer, if an expedition, in which they were
believed by Angria to have taken so great a share,
should miscarry* The next day, the 2d of April,
he began to cannonade and bombard the fort of
Severndroog, situated on the island; but finding
that the walls on the western side which he at-
tacked, were mostly cut out of the solid rock, he
changed his station to the north-east between the
island and the main ; where, whilst one of his broad-
sides plied the north-east bastions of this fort, the
other fired on fort Goa, the largest of those upon
the main land. The bastions of Severndroog, how-
ever, were so high, that the Protector could only
point her upper tier at them; but being anchored
within an hundred yards, the musketry in the round
tops drove the enemy from their guns, and by
noon the parapet of the north-east bastion was in
ruins : when a shell from one of the boml>vessels
set fire to a thatched house, which the garrison,
dreading the Protector's musketry, were afraid to
extinguish : the blaze spreading fiercely at this dry
season of the year, all the buildings of the fort
were soon in flames, and amongst them a magazine

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa 55

of powder blew up. On this disaster, the inhabitants,
men, women, and children, with the greatest part
of the garrison, in all near 1,000 persons, ran out
of the fort, and embarking in seven or eight
large boats, attempted to make their escape to
fort Goa ; but they were prevented by the English
ketches, who took them all. The Protector now
directed her fire only against fort Goa ; where the
enemy, after suffering a severe cannonade, hung
out a flag as a signal of surrender; but whilst
the Morattoes were inarching to take possession
of it, the Governor perceiving that the Commodore
had not yet taken possession of Severndroog, got
into a boat with some of his most trusty men,
and crossed over to the island, hoping to be able
to maintain the fort until he should receive assistance
from Dabul, which is in sight of it. Upon this
the Protector renewed her fire upon Severndroog ;
and the Commodore finding that the Governor
wanted to protract the defence until night, when
it was not to be doubted that some boats from
Dabul would endeavour to throw succours into
the place, he landed half his seamen, under cover
of the fire of the ships, who with great intrepidity
ran up to the gate, and cutting down the sally-port
with their axes, forced their way into it ; on which

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56 DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENERY, fa.

the garrison surrendered : the other two forts on
the main land had by this time hung out flags of
truce, and the Morattoes took possession of them.
This was all the work of one day, in which the
spirited resolution of Commodore James destroyed
the timorous prejudices which had for twenty years
been entertained of the impracticability of reducing
any of Angria's fortified harbours/'

THE END.

Printed by W. CLOWES, Northumberland-court, Strand, London.

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